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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILE LOCATION | FILE FORMAT | GLOBAL_CONFIG | KEYBINDINGS | PROFILES | LAYOUTS | PLUGINS | SEE ALSO |
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TERMINATOR_CONFIG(5) Manual for Terminator TERMINATOR_CONFIG(5)
terminator_config - the config file for Terminator terminal
emulator
This file contains the configuration for terminator(1). Terminator
manages its configuration file via the ConfigObj library to
combine flexibility with clear, human editable files.
Terminator offers a full GUI preferences editor which
automatically saves its config file so you don’t need to write a
config file by hand.
Normally the config file will be ~/.config/terminator/config, but
it may be overridden with $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (in which case it will
be $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/terminator/config).
This is what a Terminator config file should look like:
# This is a comment
[global_config]
focus = system
[keybindings]
full_screen = <Ctrl><Shift>F11
[profiles]
[[default]]
font = Fixed 10
background_color = "#000000" # A comment
foreground_color = "#FFFFFF" # Note that hex colour values must be quoted
scrollback_lines = '500' #More comment. Single quotes are valid too
cursor_blink = True
custom_command = "echo \"foo#bar\"" #Final comment - this will work as expected.
[layouts]
[[default]]
[[[window0]]]
type = Window
parent = ""
[[[child1]]]
type = Terminal
parent = window0
[plugins]
These are the options Terminator currently supports in the
global_config section.
Window Behavior & Appearance
window_state = string
Control how the Terminator window opens. 'normal' to open
normally. 'maximise' to open in a maximised state.
'fullscreen' to open in a fullscreen state. 'hidden' to stay
hidden.
Default value: normal
always_on_top = boolean
If set to True, the window will always stay on top of other
windows.
Default value: False
sticky = boolean
If set to True, the window will be visible on all workspaces.
Default value: False
hide_on_lose_focus = boolean
If set to True, the window will be hidden when focus is lost.
Default value: False
hide_from_taskbar = boolean
If set to True, the window will be hidden from the taskbar.
Default value: False
geometry_hinting = boolean
If set to True, the window will resize in step with font
sizes.
Default value: False
ask_before_closing = string
Specify when to ask for confirmation before closing a window
or a tab. Can be any of: 'always', 'multiple_terminals',
'never'. Default value: multiple_terminals
borderless = boolean
If set to True, the window will be started without window
borders.
Default value: False
Tab Behavior & Appearance
tab_position = string
Specify where tabs are placed. Can be any of: 'top', 'left',
'right', 'bottom', 'hidden'. If set to 'hidden', the tab bar
will not be shown. Hiding the tab is not recommended, as it
can be very confusing.
Default value: top
close_button_on_tab = boolean
If set to True, tabs will have a close button on them.
Default value: True
scroll_tabbar = boolean
If set to True, the tab bar will not fill the width of the
window. The titlebars of the tabs will only take as much space
as is necessary for the text they contain. Except, that is, if
the tabs no longer fit the width of the window - in that case
scroll buttons will appear to move through the tabs.
Default value: False
Terminal Behavior & Appearance
focus = string
Specify how focus is given to terminals. 'click' means the
focus only moves to a terminal after you click in it. 'sloppy'
means the focus will follow the mouse pointer. 'system' means
the focus will match that used by a GNOME window manager.
Default value: click
always_split_with_profile = boolean
Specify whether splits/tabs will continue to use the profile
of their peer terminal. If set to False, they will always use
the default profile.
Default value: False
link_single_click = boolean
If set to True, clicking a link will open it even if Ctrl is
not pressed.
Default value: False
putty_paste_style = boolean
If set to True, right-click will paste text, while
middle-click will popup the context menu. The source for the
pasted text depends on the value of
putty_paste_style_source_clipboard.
Default value: False
putty_paste_style_source_clipboard = boolean
If set to True, the Clipboard will be used as source for
pasting in PuTTY style. Otherwise, the Primary Selection will
be used.
This option is ignored unless putty_paste_style is set to
True.
Default value: False
disable_mouse_paste = boolean
If set to True, mouse pasting will be disabled.
Default value: False
smart_copy = boolean
If set to True, and there is no selection, the shortcut is
allowed to pass through. This is useful for overloading Ctrl-C
to copy a selection, or send the SIGINT to the current process
if there is no selection. If False, the shortcut does not pass
through at all, and the SIGINT does not get sent.
Default value: True
clear_select_on_copy = boolean
If set to True, text selection will be cleared after copying
using the copy keybinding.
Default value: False
handle_size = integer
Specify the width of the separator between terminals. Anything
outside the range 0-20 (inclusive) will be ignored and the
default theme value will be used instead.
Default value: 1
inactive_color_offset = float
Specify how much to reduce the color values of fonts in
terminals that do not have focus.
Default value: 0.8
inactive_bg_color_offset = float
Specify how much to reduce the color values of the background
in terminals that do not have focus.
Default value: 1.0
cell_width = float
Specify the horizontal scale of character cells in the
terminal.
Default value: 1.0
cell_height = float
Specify the vertical scale of character cells in the terminal.
Default value: 1.0
title_at_bottom = boolean
If set to True, the terminal’s titlebar will be drawn at the
bottom instead of the top.
Default value: False
Miscellaneous
dbus = boolean
Specify whether Terminator will load its DBus server. When
this server is loaded, running Terminator multiple times will
cause the first Terminator process to open additional windows.
If this configuration item is set to False, or the python dbus
module is unavailable, running Terminator multiple times will
run a separate Terminator process for each invocation.
Default value: True
extra_styling = boolean
If set to True, Terminator may load an additional CSS styling
file, depending on the theme.
Default value: True
broadcast_default = string
Specify the default broadcast behavior. Can be any of: 'all',
'group', 'off'.
Default value: group
use_custom_url_handler = boolean
If set to True, URL handling will be given over entirely to
the program specified by 'custom_url_handler'.
Default value: False
custom_url_handler = string
Specify the path to a program which accepts a URI as an
argument and does something relevant with it. This option is
ignored unless use_custom_url_handler is set to True.
case_sensitive = boolean
If set to True, uppercase and lowercase characters will be
considered different when searching text in the terminal.
Default value: True
invert_search = boolean
If set to True, the search direction will be inverted (bottom
to top) when searching text in the terminal.
Default value: False
enabled_plugins = list of strings
Specify which plugins will be loaded by default. All other
plugin classes will be ignored.
Default value: ['LaunchpadBugURLHandler',
'LaunchpadCodeURLHandler', 'APTURLHandler']
These are the options Terminator currently supports in the
keybindings section.
Creation & Destruction
split_horiz
Split the current terminal horizontally.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>O
split_vert
Split the current terminal vertically.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>E
split_auto
Split the current terminal automatically, along the longer
side.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>A
new_tab
Open a new tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>T
new_window
Open a new window as part of the existing process.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>I
new_terminator
Spawn a new Terminator process.
Default value: <Super>I
layout_launcher
Open the layout launcher.
Default value: <Alt>L
close_term
Close the current terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>W
close_window
Close the current window.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Q
Navigation
cycle_next
Focus the next terminal. This is an alias for go_next.
Default value: <Ctrl>Tab
cycle_prev
Focus the previous terminal. This is an alias for go_prev.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Tab
go_next
Focus the next terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>N
go_prev
Focus the previous terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>P
go_up
Focus the terminal above the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Up
go_down
Focus the terminal below the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Down
go_left
Focus the terminal to the left of the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Left
go_right
Focus the terminal to the right of the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Right
page_up
Scroll the terminal up one page.
page_down
Scroll the terminal down one page.
page_up_half
Scroll the terminal up half a page.
page_down_half
Scroll the terminal down half a page.
line_up
Scroll the terminal up one line.
line_down
Scroll the terminal down one line.
next_tab
Move to the next tab.
Default value: <Ctrl>Page_Down
prev_tab
Move to the previous tab.
Default value: <Ctrl>Page_Up
switch_to_tab_1, switch_to_tab_2, ... switch_to_tab_10
Move to the Nth tab. Note that <Alt><Shift>1 may be provided
as <Alt>! or similar, depending on the keyboard layout.
Organisation
resize_up
Move the parent dragbar up.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Up
resize_down
Move the parent dragbar down.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Down
resize_left
Move the parent dragbar left.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Left
resize_right
Move the parent dragbar right.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Right
rotate_cw
Rotate terminals clockwise.
Default value: <Super>R
rotate_ccw
Rotate terminals counter+clockwise.
Default value: <Super><Shift>R
move_tab_right
Move the current tab to the right by swapping position with
the next tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Page_Down
move_tab_left
Move the current tab to the left by swapping position with the
previous tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Page_Up
Focus
full_screen
Toggle window to fullscreen.
Default value: F11
toggle_zoom
Toggle maximisation of the current terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>X
scaled_zoom
Toggle maximisation of the current terminal and scale the font
when maximised.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Z
hide_window
Hide/Show all Terminator windows.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift><Alt>A
Grouping & Broadcasting
create_group
Create a new group.
group_all
Group all terminals together.
Default value: <Super>G
ungroup_all
Ungroup all terminals.
group_all_toggle
Toggle grouping of all terminals.
group_win
Group all terminals in the current window together.
ungroup_win
Ungroup all terminals in the current window.
Default value: <Super><Shift>W
group_win_toggle
Toggle grouping of all terminals in the current window.
group_tab
Group all terminals in the current tab together.
Default value: <Super>T
ungroup_tab
Ungroup all terminals in the current tab.
Default value: <Super><Shift>T
group_tab_toggle
Toggle grouping of all terminals in the current tab.
broadcast_off
Turn broadcasting off.
broadcast_group
Broadcast to all terminals in the same group as the current
terminal.
broadcast_all
Broadcast to all terminals.
Miscellaneous
help
Open the full HTML manual in the browser.
Default value: F1
preferences
Open the Preferences window.
preferences_keybindings
Open the Preferences window and show the Keybindings tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>K
copy
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>C
paste
Paste the current contents of the Clipboard.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>V
paste_selection
Paste the current contents of the Primary Selection.
toggle_scrollbar
Toggle the scrollbar.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>S
search
Search for text in the terminal scrollback history.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>F
reset
Reset the terminal state.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>R
reset_clear
Reset the terminal state and clear the terminal window.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>G
zoom_in
Increase the font size by one unit.
Default value: <Ctrl>plus
zoom_out
Decrease the font size by one unit.
Default value: <Ctrl>minus
zoom_normal
Restore the original font size.
Default value: <Ctrl>0
zoom_in_all
Increase the font size by one unit for all terminals.
zoom_out_all
Decrease the font size by one unit for all terminals.
zoom_normal_all
Restore the original font size for all terminals.
edit_window_title
Rename the current window.
Default value: <Ctrl><Alt>W
edit_tab_title
Rename the current tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Alt>A
edit_terminal_title
Rename the current terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Alt>X
insert_number
Insert the current terminal’s number, i.e. 1 to 12.
Default value: <Super>1
insert_padded
Insert the current terminal’s number, but zero padded, i.e. 01
to 12.
Default value: <Super>0
next_profile
Switch to the next profile.
previous_profile
Switch to the previous profile.
These are the options Terminator currently supports in the
profiles section. Each profile should be its own subsection with a
header in the format [[name]].
General
allow_bold = boolean
If set to True, text in the terminal can displayed in bold.
Default value: True
copy_on_selection = boolean
If set to True, text selections will be automatically copied
to the Clipboard, in addition to being copied to the Primary
Selection.
Default value: False
disable_mousewheel_zoom = boolean
If set to True, Ctrl+mouse_wheel will not zoom or unzoom the
terminal.
Default value: False
word_chars = string
Specify the characters that will be considered part of a
single word when selecting text by word. Hyphen and
alphanumerics do not need to be specified. Ranges can be
given, e.g. "A-Z".
For example, if word_chars = "," then "foo,bar" is considered
a single word.
Default value: -,./?%&#:_
mouse_autohide = boolean
If set to True, the mouse pointer will be hidden when typing.
Default value: True
term = string
Specify the value Terminator will assign to the 'TERM'
environment variable.
Default value: xterm-256color
colorterm = string
Specify the value Terminator will assign to the 'COLORTERM'
environment variable.
Default value: truecolor
split_to_group = boolean
If set to True, the terminal created by splitting will be
inserted in the current terminal’s group.
Default value: False
autoclean_groups = boolean
If set to True, empty groups will be removed.
Default value: True
use_system_font = boolean
If set to True, the system default font will be used for text
in the terminal. Otherwise, the value of font will be used.
Default value: True
font = string
Specify which font to use for text in the terminal. This
option is ignored unless use_system_font is set to False.
Default value: Mono 10
cursor_blink = boolean
If set to True, the cursor will blink when not typing.
Default value: True
cursor_shape = string
Specify the shape of the cursor. Can be any of: 'block',
'underline', 'ibeam'.
Default value: block
cursor_color_default = boolean
If set to True, the background and foreground colors of the
terminal will be used as foreground and background colors for
the cursor, respectively.
Default value: True
cursor_fg_color = color string
Specify the foreground color to use for the cursor. This
option is ignored unless cursor_color_default is set to False.
cursor_bg_color = color string
Specify the background color to use for the cursor. This
option is ignored unless cursor_color_default is set to False.
audible_bell = boolean
If set to True, a sound will be played when an application
writes the escape sequence for the terminal bell.
Default value: False
visible_bell = boolean
If set to True, the terminal will flash when an application
writes the escape sequence for the terminal bell.
Default value: False
urgent_bell = boolean
If set to True, the window’s urgency hint will be set when an
application writes the escape sequence for the terminal bell.
Default value: False
icon_bell = boolean
If set to True, a small icon will be shown on the terminal
titlebar when an application writes the escape sequence for
the terminal bell.
Default value: True
force_no_bell = boolean
If set to True, the terminal bell will be completely disabled.
Default value: False
Command
login_shell = boolean
If set to True, the terminal will run the default shell (or
the command specified by custom_command) as a login shell.
This means the first argument passed to the shell/command will
be '-l'.
Default value: False
use_custom_command = boolean
If set to True, the value of custom_command will be used
instead of the default shell.
Default value: False
custom_command = string
Specify the command to execute instead of the default shell.
This option is ignored unless use_custom_command is set to
True.
exit_action = string
Specify the action to perform when the terminal is closed.
'close' to remove the terminal. 'restart' to restart the shell
(or the command specified by custom_command). 'hold' to keep
the terminal open, even if the process in it has terminated.
Default value: close
Colors
use_theme_colors = boolean
If set to True, the theme’s foreground and background colors
will be used for the terminal. Otherwise, the values of
foreground_color and background_color will be used.
Default value: False
foreground_color = color string
Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal. This
option is ignored unless use_theme_colors is set to False.
Default value: #AAAAAA
background_color = color string
Specify the background color to use for the terminal. This
option is ignored unless use_theme_colors is set to False.
Default value: #000000
palette = string list of colors
Specify the 16-color palette to use for the terminal. The
value must be a string containing a colon-separated list of
colors in hex format.
For example, "#000000:#cd0000:#00cd00: ... ".
bold_is_bright = boolean
If set to True, bold text will have brighter colors.
Default value: False
Background
background_darkness = float
Specify the transparency of the background color. The value
must be between 0.0 and 1.0. This option is ignored unless
background_type is set to 'transparent' or 'image'.
Default value: 0.5
background_type = string
Specify what type of background the terminal will have.
'solid' for a solid (opaque) background. 'transparent' for a
transparent background. 'image' for a background image.
If this is set to 'transparent', the transparency of the
background will be the value of background_darkness. If this
is set to 'image', the image specified by background_image
will be the background; the background color will then be
drawn on top of it, with a transparency specified by
background_darkness.
Default value: solid
background_image = path string
Specify the path to an image that will be used as background.
This option is ignored unless background_type is set to
'image'.
background_image_mode = string
Specify how the background image will be drawn.
'stretch_and_fill' to fill the terminal entirely, without
necessarily maintaining aspect ratio. 'scale_and_fit' to fit
the image inside the terminal, eventually leaving blank bars,
while maintaining aspect ratio. 'scale_and_crop' to fill the
terminal entirely, eventually cropping the image, while
maintaining aspect ratio. 'tiling' to repeat the image as to
fill the terminal. This option is ignored unless
background_type is set to 'image'.
Default value: stretch_and_fill
background_image_align_horiz = string
Specify the horizontal alignment of the background image. Can
be any of: 'left', 'center', 'right'. This option is ignored
unless background_type is set to 'image'.
Default value: center
background_image_align_vert = string
Specify the vertical alignment of the background image. Can be
any of: 'top', 'middle', 'bottom'. This option is ignored
unless background_type is set to 'image'.
Default value: middle
Scrolling
scrollbar_position = string
Specify where the terminal scrollbar is put. Can be any of:
'left', 'right', 'hidden'.
Default value: right
scroll_on_output = boolean
If set to True, the terminall will scroll to the bottom when
an application writes text to it.
Default value: False
scroll_on_keystroke = boolean
If set to True, the terminal will scroll to the bottom when
typing.
Default value: True
scrollback_infinite = boolean
If set to True, the terminal will keep the entire scrollback
history.
Default value: False
scrollback_lines = integer
Specify how many lines of scrollback history will be kept by
the terminal. Lines that don’t fit in the scrollback history
will be discarted. Note that setting large values can slow
down rewrapping and resizing. This option is ignored unless
scrollback_infinite is set to False.
Default value: 500
Compatibility
backspace_binding = string
Specify what code will be generated by the backspace key. The
value can be: 'ascii-del' for the ASCII DEL character;
'control-h' for the ASCII BS character (Ctrl+H);
'escape-sequence' for the escape sequence typically bound to
backspace or delete; 'automatic' for letting the terminal
automatically decide the character sequence to use.
Default value: ascii-del
delete_binding = string
Specify what code will be generated by the delete key. The
value can be: 'ascii-del' for the ASCII DEL character;
'control-h' for the ASCII BS character (Ctrl+H);
'escape-sequence' for the escape sequence typically bound to
backspace or delete; 'automatic' for letting the terminal
automatically decide the character sequence to use.
Default value: escape-sequence
Titlebar
show_titlebar = boolean
If set to True, the terminal will have a titlebar showing the
current title of that terminal.
Default value: True
title_hide_sizetext = boolean
If set to True, the size of the terminal will not be written
on its titlebar.
Default value: False
title_use_system_font = boolean
If set to True, the system default font will be used for text
in the terminal’s titlebar. Otherwise, the value of title_font
will be used.
Default value: True
title_font = string
Specify which font to use for text in the terminal’s titlebar.
This option is ignored unless title_use_system_font is set to
False.
Default value: Sans 9
title_transmit_fg_color = color string
Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal’s
titlebar in case the terminal is focused.
Default value: #ffffff
title_transmit_bg_color = color string
Specify the background color to use for the terminal’s
titlebar in case the terminal is focused.
Default value: #c80003
title_inactive_fg_color = color string
Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal’s
titlebar in case the terminal is unfocused.
Default value: #000000
title_inactive_bg_color = color string
Specify the background color to use for the terminal’s
titlebar in case the terminal is unfocused.
Default value: #c0bebf
title_receive_fg_color = color string
Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal’s
titlebar in case the terminal is in a group and is receiving
input while unfocused.
Default value: #ffffff
title_receive_bg_color = color string
Specify the background color to use for the terminal’s
titlebar in case the terminal is in a group and is receiving
input while unfocused.
Default value: #0076c9
The layouts section contains all the saved layouts. Each layout
should be its own subsection with a header in the format [[name]].
Each object in a layout is a named sub-sub-section with various
properties.
type = string
Can be any of: 'Window', 'Notebook', 'HPaned', 'VPaned',
'Terminal'.
parent = string
Specify which object is the parent of the component being
defined. All objects, except those of type Window, must
specify a parent.
This is an example of a layouts section containing only the layout
named "default".
[layouts]
[[default]]
[[[window0]]]
type = Window
parent = ""
[[[child1]]]
type = Terminal
parent = window0
Terminator plugins can add their own configuration to the config
file, and it will appear as a subsection. Please refer to the
documentation of individual plugins for more information.
terminator(1), https://configobj.readthedocs.io/ This page is part
of the util-linux (a random collection of Linux utilities)
project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/⟩. If you have a
bug report for this manual page, send it to
[email protected]. This page was obtained from the
project's upstream Git repository
⟨git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/util-linux/util-linux.git⟩ on
2025-08-11. (At that time, the date of the most recent commit that
was found in the repository was 2025-08-05.) If you discover any
rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page,
or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a
mail to [email protected]
Terminator 2023-10-10 TERMINATOR_CONFIG(5)
Pages that refer to this page: terminator(1)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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